My City – My History
The German Protestant Institute for Archaeology in the Holy Land (GPIA) and the Roman-Catholic Schmidt-School in Jerusalem have a new initiative for Palestinian schools since 2014. The students, who are in the 10th grade, learn in a three-week long project called “My City – My History” about the history and archaeology of Jerusalem.
Under the guidance of two members of the GPIA the students get a first look on scientific work and the critical handling of historical sources in their history class. Hopefully, this helps in overcoming ideological barriers.
The programm also includes excursions to all areas of the Old City, e.g. to the archaeological park below the Curch of the Redeemer (“Through the Ages”), to the excavation of the GPIA on Mount Zion, to the City of David, to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, to the Haram ash-Sharif and to the museum of the Tower of David.
The project concludes with presentations by the students about historical buildings of the city.
Both German institutions have a long tradition in Jerusalem. The Schmidt-School was founded in 1886 and is since then one of the most important schools for Arab girls in Jerusalem. The GPIA has its origins in Kaiser Wilhem’s II journey to the Holy Land to inaugurate the Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem on Reformation Day 1898.
“Understanding your own roots makes orientation in the present possible.”
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Archaeological Workshop Amman 2018
In September 2018 the GPIA Amman organised for the first time an archaeological workshop for students from the Jubilee School.
As part of the “PASCH Initiative” (School: Patrners of the Future) the GPIA together with the Goethe-Institute tried to popularise archaeology among the students of the Jubilee School. The understanding and conservation of Jordan’s archaeological sites are the focus of the concerted effort.
